The first mutant born after M-Day, Hope Summers is believed to either be the mutant messiah or the harbinger of death for humanity. She is an Omega-level power mimic, and possesses a connection to the Phoenix Force.

A Question of Power?

Now Hope has the ability to clone powers as we ahve seen her do in many issues, but when this power manifested is it done with the similarity of the original mimic? which is he can clone powers of those he touches or powers that are used on him, or is it done via Bishop if a power is used on him he can absorb is and rechannel it? Obviously it differs to Bishops as she can rechannel the exact power and copy it. Also did Hope get a head start with this power, for when she was a baby she was pressed to Rogue and she cleaned out all or Rogue Powers and personas that where in her mind, is it possible that all those persona and powers were merely transfered into Hope and why she was able to utilise these abilites later on?

@kiss_lamia: Interesting topic. I'm a little confused about how her power works myself. In Second Coming, when she first displays her powers she just seems to do it, and uses (what looks like) all the mutants present powers. But in Generation Hope #13 she's seen touching the Cuckoo to take her power, which makes me think she has to touch people, like Rogue, to absorb the power. Yet again in Uncanny X-Men #2 we see Emma, and Hope use a code word to somehow transfer her powers during their confrontation with Mr. Sinister. Also, she seems to borrow Magik's teleportation powers without touching her (she may have though, but it wasn't shown.) Anyway, I'm a little confused myself from seeing these different scenarios that seem to contradict each other a little, and I would like to known too just how they work!

@Mayo88m: Thats why i was thinking most of the X-Men members Rogue would have touched so maybe the imprint is already there inside her to use certain members without touching them and other memeber who are more recent or she hasn't met she might have to touch, i was thinking the Rogues powers may have been a catalyst for her to be able to use that many powers at once. *shrugs* lool

@kiss_lamia: Maybe, but I also thought mutant powers didn't manifest until around puberty. So, how could she have absorbed them as an infant. Given she is the "Messiah" so there may be special rules for her. If she did absorb them though, why did it take so long for her to finally be able to use them too? You would think somewhere along the line she would have figured it out herself. I know the first time was under extreme duress, but what's more stressful than running for your life in a dystopian future!? Argh, I like Hope, unlike a lot of people, but the vagueness of how she works is frustrating.

@The Dark Huntress: Well that why i was thinking Rogue was the catalyst when she was a baby she absorbed the majority from her perhaps, she's been seen touching a Cuckoo to get her power but i haven't seen the rechannel effect of bishop but was throwing it out there as an example loool

@The Dark Huntress: In Generation Hope #13 she grabs one of the Cuckoos to take her power, but it does say that she necessarily HAD to touch her. She just did. However, Pixie (I think) later mentions she should have grabbed an invisibility power from another mutant before they went to Afghanistan, so that implies she has to be near them at least to take them.

@Mayo88m: Well some children mutants have been known to manifest there powers early for example Cable when he was a baby could call up a Tk force field for protection so i think there is a possibility that some have there powers much younger than others, though the majority are shown to have there powers manifest at puberty.

@kiss_lamia: Maybe, but I also thought mutant powers didn't manifest until around puberty. So, how could she have absorbed them as an infant. Given she is the "Messiah" so there may be special rules for her. If she did absorb them though, why did it take so long for her to finally be able to use them too? You would think somewhere along the line she would have figured it out herself. I know the first time was under extreme duress, but what's more stressful than running for your life in a dystopian future!? Argh, I like Hope, unlike a lot of people, but the vagueness of how she works is frustrating.

She showed signs of both her powers and of being a host to the PF during Cable's run. I'd have estimated her to be around seven.

@The Dark Huntress: Yeah thats the storyline that got be thinking about it, that Rogue when Mystique held hope to her to awake from the coma didn't magically erase the personas and powers from Rogue mearly transfered them to Hope instead.

@The Dark Huntress: Cool, I got Messiah Wars, but I don't know if that collects the entire Cable series or not, and I don't remember that being a part of it. I do remember her finding a hatch buried in the desert, and opening it when she was extremely little though, and Cable thought it odd that she would not only be able to find it, but open such a heavy hatch. So, I guess that was probably a slight manifestation too.

@Mayo88m It doesn't collect the entire series, but that last instance you reference is exactly what I was talking about. During that incident, she also emits what looks like blue chainlike telekinetic beams from her hands. I'll search up the scans for you later of I can find them.

Hope's powers are the worse thing and only thing I dislike about her. To me its at odds with the rest of her - will be really interesting to see why and how they were given to her creatively and where they go. Its too Deus Ex Machina at the moment and undermines another classic X-Characters powers.

To me, Hope is appealing to me, because she is burdened by hope and expectation, thats a lot of tough pressure for a girl her age, her father/daughter relationship with Cable and fact she grew up constantly on the move trying to survive, being chased, in all sorts of weird crazy future zones. So she's a fish out of water. Then there is her training by Cable, to be a fighter and a soldier and to not rely on powers. Basically she was a kickass female teenager and also one that was innocent and - like that scene with the make up and jumping on the bed?

Rogue? Love me some Rogue, her powers were always exploitable and balanced. She had to touch, she was confident and stubborn, but also prone to over confidence and emotional outbursts (and thus lose of control and competency). She had no control. Here personality meant well, she had potential for crazy power stunts and every 50 issues she got to demonstrate this. She didn't make any other characters redundant. Her limits were pretty clearly defined. Hope? Her powers work on and off? Isn't being trained by Cable, isn't being trained and prepared all about learning control and consistency of powers? Why does Hope ignore this aspect of herself?

Oh I know, she's fictional, and its one big secret that is meant to keep us on our toes that can be brought out now and then lol - eh? I prefer her being badass with just a huge gun.

@SC: Yeah well i get the whole Girl with a Gun, Brings back memories of Silver Sable and MotorMouth looooooooooooool but in regards to hope well with its kinda love/hate character wise i mean theres was enough red head power with Jean and Maddy looool but i don't know some times she grows on you, and sometimes you wanna slap her silly looool (aka Moonstar) haha that cat fight was fun loool

I was excited when Hope first appeared - I liked the inference that there was a connection between her and Rogue but the writers dropped the ball and had her turn into another potential Phoenix/Jean manifestation. They could have went into a new direction, but decided to play it the same way they always have. I think Rogue in the position of being Hope's mentor was great and this actually was the beginning of when I began to not like Cyclops as a leader. Reminds me of the hypocrisy all of the X-Men characters are engaging in lately.

I don't like that her powers closely mirrors Rogue - even that picture is almost a traceable image of Rogue. Its going to take a lot for me to warm up again to Hope's character.

I thought Hope only needed to be in the vicinity of other mutants to use their powers and once she mimics them they last for so long before they are gone. I dont think she can continuously hold on to powers all though i think she can pick and choose from the mutants around her which ones she wants to mimic